ONU COMES UP SHORT IN SLUGFEST WITH VITERBO

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – In a series that featured over 100 runs scored across four contests, the Olivet Nazarene University baseball team dropped three in a four-game set against Viterbo this weekend at Watson Field.

The Tigers were swept in Thursday's series-opening doubleheader by final scores of 9-1 and 21-16 and lost the first game Friday 16-8 before bouncing back in a 17-15 win in the series finale, reaching a staggering total of 103 runs scored over the series.

ONU fell behind in a hurry in the opening game, with the V-Hawks putting up nine unanswered runs to kick off the series. Alex Seaton scampered home on a wild pitch to plate ONU's first run in the bottom of the sixth, but that was all the Tigers could muster in the series-opening setback.

Thursday's nightcap proved to be the wildest game of the series, with both teams combining for 37 runs scored, including 18 runs scored after the eighth inning. The V-Hawks appeared to put the game away with eight runs in the top of the ninth before the Tigers came roaring back with five runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

Five different Tigers plated an RBI in the bottom of the ninth, capped off by Sam Reczek's RBI single that tied the game at 16-16. But Viterbo responded with a five-spot of their own in the 10th to ice, and ONU did not have the same response to fall 21-16.

Another late rally cost the Tigers in the 16-8 opener loss Friday, but the ONU bats caught fire to salvage the series in the finale. This was much in part to Evan Pogioli swinging a scalding-hot bat, going 4-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs and sending a pair of homers over the wall to power his team to victory.

The Tigers conclude their conference schedule with a 17-15 CCAC record. They will close out the regular season with a four-game non-conference bout with Roosevelt this weekend.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu